Contemporary Realistic Fiction

 Goodnight Baseball

Written by Michael Dahl

Illustrated by Christina Forshay

Published by Picture Window Books, 2013

32 Pages

The genre of this book is Contemporary Realistic Fiction.

Contemporary Realistic Fiction is a story that is rooted in reality, meaning it could actually happen, but the characters are fictional. This genre teaches children to understand their own lives and allows them to connect to problems they are facing withing their own lives. This book is a story of attending a baseball game through the perspective of a young boy with his father. He describes all the different aspects of the game that are appealing to him and events surrounding it. he even tells of his victory catch from the stands and says goodnight to all the things he saw at the game as he goes home. It is a nostalgic tale told in an intriguing way to capture heart of a young reader allowing him to relate to the characters experience. 

The illustrator used many different elements of art to engage the reader and bring the reader into the setting of the story. There is the presence of dominant colors while also using texture/depth to portray details. The pictures composition flows the readers eyes across the page to view each aspect of the scene. The shapes are precise with detailed background while keeping the peoples features simple to focus the reader on the scene being described in the text.